Berenson, Robert

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Robert Berenson

Excerpt of "Will 1947 Tell Tele's Tale?"

Originally published in Grey Advertising's Grey Matter series, June 1947

Excerpted from Mediaweek, May 5, 1997

Television broadcasting took a while to develop. The first public demonstrations of TV systems took place during the 1920s. Yet by the time the United States entered World War II in 1941, only twenty-three television stations existed nationwide, and only a few thousand TV sets had been sold. These early sets were very expensive and did not work very well. In addition, the people who bought them soon discovered that there were very few programs to watch. After hearing about the exciting potential of television technology for so long, some Americans were disappointed with the reality.

During World War II (1939–45), both the production of television sets and most TV broadcasting came to a halt. The U.S. government needed a large supply of electronic parts and communications equipment for the war effort, so many television and radio assembly plants were converted in order to produce materials for national defense. Many of the scientists and engineers who had been working to perfect television technology began developing defense systems such as radar instead. The government also prohibited the construction of new radio and TV stations during the war years due to fears that spies might use such facilities to transmit information to the enemy. For the duration of the conflict, millions of Americans forgot about television and relied on their radio sets to hear the latest news from the front lines of battle.

"Today, the public wants 'movies' in the home! Television is capable of granting that desire."

Commercial television broadcasting got started in the United States as soon as the war ended in 1945. But it took some time for television manufacturers to convert their factories back to producing consumer electronics, so few TV sets were available in stores at first. The broadcast networks also struggled to figure out what kinds of programs would have broad appeal for television viewers. Many analysts had predicted that television sales and programming would take off after the war. When this failed to happen immediately, some critics began complaining that television was a flop.

Advertisers express doubts about television

Some of the most vocal criticism of television in the mid-1940s came from the American advertising industry. Many advertising executives had been waiting anxiously for television to develop into a powerful new medium of mass communication. They looked forward to using television to expand the reach and impact of their commercial messages. By 1947, though, many people in the advertising industry were expressing doubts as to whether television would ever live up to its potential.

In June 1947, Robert L. Berenson, the president of Grey Advertising, published a strong defense of television in his company's influential Grey Matter newsletter. Founded in 1917, Grey Advertising started out publishing direct-mail catalogs displaying the products of New York City's fur and clothing manufacturers. The agency grew rapidly and placed its first national advertisement in Ladies' Home Journal magazine in 1926. By the 1940s, Grey Advertising had branched out beyond the fashion industry to create advertising for producers of packaged goods (food, cleaning products, and other household goods). These sorts of companies were among the first to use television as an advertising medium.

In his historic article "Will 1947 Tell Tele's Tale?," which is excerpted below, Berenson acknowledges critics' feelings of frustration about the slow development of commercial television broadcasting. But he argues that it is not reasonable to expect TV to be an instant success. Berenson points out that other new technologies, such as automobiles and radio broadcasting, took a while to catch on with the public. He also mentions that a number of big advertisers had already committed to television, despite the fact that the medium was struggling to get going after the war.

Berenson also discusses the fact that most early buyers of TV sets were very wealthy. When television sets first became available to American consumers, the technology was too expensive for ordinary people to afford. Berenson claims that the tastes and interests of the richest Americans are very different from those of average Americans. Therefore, he is not surprised that the first wave of TV owners expressed unhappiness with the type of entertainment programs being broadcast. Berenson concludes by encouraging advertisers to be patient and give television a few years to prove itself as a mass communications medium.

Things to remember while reading the excerpt of "Will 1947 Tell Tele's Tale?":

In his article, Berenson mentions that "television was held up, until just a few months ago, by the uncertainty of the FCC ruling on color video." The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the U.S. government agency responsible for regulating television. In the mid-1940s, the FCC examined several different proposed color TV systems to decide whether any of them worked well enough to serve as a standard (basic rule or guideline) for the industry. Some consumers held off on buying a black-and-white television set because they suspected that the FCC would approve a color TV system and thus make all existing TV sets out of date. In early 1947, however, the FCC announced that it was postponing its decision on color TV because the technology was not ready yet.
Berenson also points out that the high cost of early TV sets made television a "class medium," or a form of communication that appeals only to a certain social class or income group. He claims that television will only succeed when it becomes a "mass medium," or a form of communication that is available to the larger society. From an advertising perspective, mass media offer the greatest value to advertisers because they allow commercial messages to reach the largest possible audience.

Excerpt of "Will 1947 Tell Tele's Tale?"

Video's skeptics have settled down comfortably, determined to wait out the year 1947. At its end they expect to be able to say: "See—we told you so. Television is a flop! "
Precisely what television must accomplish in its first peacetime year to earn its right to existence isn't quite clear. If any goals have been fixed, we have yet to hear about them. Must 500,000 sets be sold in 1947? Must 12 or 20 or 30 new video [television] stations be opened? Must so-and-so many sponsors be snared with budgets totaling so-and-so many dollars? Must surveys show a certain minimum number of listeners per program, or a stipulated minimum dollar of return per video advertising dollar?
By what standards of accomplishment will television rise or fall in 1947?
We don't know the answer to that question. Do you?
Why A One-Year Test?
We believe it pertinent to ask: Why must television prove itself (assuming a sane and sensible standard of required performance could be established) in its first peacetime year?
Did the phonograph prove itself in its first full year? Did the automobile? Did the telephone? How many years were required before newspapers could prove their right to existence as an advertising medium? Ditto with regard to magazines, and to outdoor advertising.
And what about radio? Yes—what about radio? That's an interesting question.
Suppose radio had had to pass certain tests (fixed by magazines and newspapers of that era) in its first full year after KDKA began to broadcast? Where would radio be today?
Historically, radio didn't even cut its first tooth at the end of its first full year of existence! One of our staff members, who was then in the editorial department of Printers' Ink [an advertising industry trade journal], can recall visiting, among others, the offices of WEAF in those early days, and his recollection is that that particular infant looked as if it would never graduate from the incubator stage.
Why, then, this one-year test for television?
Television To Date
At the present time, television has a small handful of sponsors who are committed to video budgets in 1947 of at least $200,000 each.
That's rather interesting. Significant, in fact. Have you any idea how many advertisers in 1924 had total advertising budgets, in all national media, of $200,000 and over? We would say not much more than 300. And, so far as we can find out, there wasn't a single advertiser who spent anything like $200,000 in radio's first full year. But television, at this very moment, has at least a half dozen advertisers committed to video budgets of $200,000 and over, and at least a dozen committed to video budgets of $100,000 and over.
That's pretty good progress—especially when you bear in mind that a considerable percentage of our largest national advertisers are holding back on their best Sunday advertising punch because they're still behind on deliveries [of TV sets ordered by consumers].
And that's pretty good progress when you bear in mind that the number of television sets in operation is still pitifully small….
And that's pretty good progress when you bear in mind that television has scarcely begun its first full peacetime year because production of both sets and station equipment is still retarded by factory difficulties.
And that's pretty good progress when you bear in mind that television was held up, until just a few months ago, by the uncertainty of the FCC ruling on color video.
And that's pretty good progress when you bear in mind that radio advertising has shown a decided tendency to drop from its wartime peak and that radio sets are our current Number One distribution headache….
Today, the public wants "movies" in the home! Television is capable of granting that desire.
That is a simple, inescapable fact. We are willing to gamble on the certainty that where there is a strong public demand for something—someone, somehow, will find a method for catering profitably to that demand.
We doubt that television will prove to be an exception.
The "400" Of Yesterday And Today
Television's detractors are making much of the fact that the 1946–47 buyers of video sets aren't well pleased with the entertainment fare, other than sports events, spread before them. That leads us to a few questions.
What do you think the top income groups of the very early 1900s thought of the movies? Do you suppose the Metropolitan's Diamond Horseshoe patrons got a wallop out of the nickelodeon, or did they look down their noses at it?
What do you think the top income groups thought of the entertainment provided by radio in its first several years? Do you suppose the "400" were inclined to applaud the entertainment KDKA provided when it first pierced the ether? And even now, what verdict do you think you'd get from today's "400" on radio's entertainment fare? Those same members of the upper income groups, who constitute the majority of the purchasers of video sets at the moment, probably think as poorly of contemporary radio programs as they admittedly do with respect to current television programs. Does that mean that radio is a flop as an advertising medium?
Does that mean that television will be a flop as an advertising medium?
And, looking back at the early days of the "flickers, " does that mean the movies were destined to be a flop as a medium of entertainment?
Since when did the tastes, desires and interests of our top income groups in any manner, shape or form resemble the tastes, desires and interests of our masses of people? Why is it that the finest symphonic programs receive the lowest Hooper ratings? Why is it that our crooners, comedians and dance orchestras receive the highest Hooper ratings?
If television, as it will eventually emerge, were to be hugely applauded by its present-day audience of top income groups that would be sorry news indeed. It would mean that television is destined to be a class medium, whereas it can only succeed when and if it becomes a mass medium.
Give Television Five Years
We say: Give television five years. Within that time, and assuming the absence of any economic cataclysm, television should prove whether or not it has the answers to all the problems hurled at it by all the doubters and skeptics today.
We think it has those answers.

What happened next …

Just as Berenson predicted, the medium of television began growing rapidly. According to the TV History Web site, annual sales of television sets—which stood at a disappointing 178,000 units in 1947—increased to 975,000 units in 1948. Sales continued rising over the next few years to reach 3 million units in 1949 and 7.4 million units in 1950. Television ownership expanded from 9 percent of American homes in 1950 to 23 percent the following year, 67 percent in 1955, and 87 percent by 1960. In addition, the number of commercial television stations on the air increased from 9 immediately after the war ended in 1945 to 48 in 1948. By 1960, there were over 500 television stations broadcasting across the United States.

Advertising on television increased rapidly during the postwar years as well. In 1948, the year after Grey Advertising published its defense of TV, 933 advertisers placed commercials on television—an increase of 515 percent from the year before. Many companies saw their sales increase dramatically after they began advertising on television. The growth of TV broadcasting also produced a number of cultural changes in the United States. For instance, attendance at movie theaters, sporting events, and nightclubs declined in cities that had television stations, as more people stayed home and watched TV.

Did you know …

The first television commercial appeared on an experimental NBC broadcast in New York City in 1941. The Bulova Watch Company paid nine dollars for the spot, which only reached a few hundred people since TV sets were not widely available at that time.
The ABC network charged advertisers $2.5 million for each 30—second commercial that aired during Super Bowl XL in 2006. These ads reached over 100 million people in the United States and hundreds of millions more around the world.
Grey Advertising grew along with television. It eventually became one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, with offices in 83 countries. In 2000, the company was reorganized under the name Grey Global Group Inc.

Consider the following …

Make a list of the various factors that may have played a role in slowing down the public acceptance of television in the mid-1940s. Do these factors explain the slow early growth of television, or did TV simply develop along the same timetable as all new technologies?
Research the early stages of development of a modern communications medium, such as the Internet, cellular telephones, or satellite radio. How long did it take to achieve widespread use in American society? Was there a point at which people doubted whether the technology would ever live up to its potential?
How has television advertising changed over time? How do you think it will change in the future?

For More Information

BOOKS

Samuel, Lawrence R. Brought to You By: Postwar TV Advertising and the American Dream. El Paso: University of Texas Press, 2002.

PERIODICALS

Baughman, James L. "Show Business in the Living Room: Management Expectations for American Television, 1947–56." Business and Economic History, Winter 1997.

Berenson, Robert. "Will 1947 Tell Tele's Tale?" Mediaweek, May 5, 1997.

WEB SITES

"The History of Film and Television." High-Tech Productions. http://www.high-techproductions.com/historyoftelevision.htm (accessed on July 26, 2006).

"History of Television: The First 75 Years." TV History. http://www.tvhistory.tv/facts-stats.htm (accessed on July 26, 2006).

Mashon, Michael. "Sponsor." Museum of Broadcast Communications. http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/sponsor/sponsor.htm (accessed on July 26, 2006).

Rutherford, Paul. "Advertising." Museum of Broadcast Communications. http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/advertising/advertising.htm (accessed on July 26, 2006).

Flop: Failure.

Peacetime year: Full year after the end of World War II.

Stipulated: Agreed upon.

Standard: Base or guideline.

Phonograph: Record player.

Ditto: The same thing.

KDKA: Call letters of the Pittsburgh radio station that made the first commercial broadcast in 1920.

Cut its first tooth: Grow beyond the infant stage.

WEAF: A New York City radio station that became the flagship of the NBC national network in 1926.

Infant: Refers to radio in its early "infant" days.

Incubator: A device that maintains controlled conditions favorable to babies, for their care and protection.